Born in Manhattan, raised in Queens, and now living in Brooklyn, Louis is a New Yorker through and through. He started drumming at 11, and by age 15 he was steady-gigging with local grunge rock band The New Mexikans, cutting his teeth on stage at now-extinct venues of New York’s legendary downtown scene: The Wetlands, The Knitting Factory, Coney Island High, and CBGB’s to name a few.
Louis went on to study classical percussion at CUNY’s Aaron Copeland School of music, and performed classical and contemporary works on stages like Symphony Space and Carnegie Hall with The New York Youth Symphony.
After college, Louis discovered West African and Afro-Cuban music, and he was hooked; for years he was immersed in Bata, studying and performing the sacred drumming of the Orisha pantheon with master Carlos Gomez of the Angarica school.
Louis brings each of these influences to his compositional style, reflecting his roots and his love for New York’s beautiful diversity: hip hop groove, hard rock intensity, classical harmonic texture, and West African spiritual magic.
